To say, that I hated painting cavalry and horses, is serious understatement. It was a truly painfull job for me - a lot of painting and final effect maybe better then foot soldier but NOT THAT better to justify all efforts. But it has changed when - finally - I was able to paint horses in efficient way with satisfactory results. Of course, my way of painting horses in this scale isn't the only one. It is certainly not the best, some people paint horses much quickier and with much better results. Still, it suits me and miniature is painted to a standard slightly better then tabletop, which is usually my goal. Sometimes I use second method, using airbrush, especially when painting bigger groups, but this tutorial doesn't cover it. I may write such tutorial in the future though.

All photos are little larger then I usually use on the blog, they are bigger when clicked on.

Nothing too hard or unusual. Miniature is thoroughly cleaned from all imperfections, mould lines, etc. Then I wash miniature with water and soap and glue it to the temporary base (using hot glue), which I hold at my hand during painting. In this case such base is just plastic cap from soda bottle. It has just a right size, as I can reach all surfaces without any problem. In this step I try to fit horses and riders too - most producers make horses and riders fitting each other in most basic way, but "most basic way" is not enough for me. When I paint a unit or element of horsemen in 15 mm scale, I try to find best fit on all horses and riders. Then I file down saddles and sides of the horse to better accomodate riders. Fitting pairs are marked with the same number painted on or under the temporary base, and I can glue right rider on right horse later on. I also drill holes for pins now, as I tend to paint all riders mounted on pins - when they are painted, I just cut the pin and glue it inside this drilled hole.

Undercoat - it doesn't matter if painted with brush or airbrush. The only important thing is to make this coat even and to not obscure details by painting too thick coat. I use almost exclusively white undercoat in 15 mm scale. Read on to know why.

When the undercoat is dry I wash figure - quite abundantly - with chosen color. Personally I use Games Workshop washes usually. You can see on the photo horse painted white and washed with Agrax Earthshade. I put wash from below - with most of it left on the horse's underbelly, legs and under his head. After the wash is dry, it serves two purposes. First, it accentuates all details, making them much easier to notice and paint. Second - it gives basic shadows in some places (like underbelly). If one wants to experiment a little with color of horse's fur, different colors of the wash may be used. Much better effects of different colors will be achieved in one of the later stages though.

Basic colors. In this step I try to put even, thin coat of all basic colors. Horse visible on the photo was painted with Dark Flesh on the fur, Charadon Granite on the hoofs, saddle-cloth was painted with Enchanted Blue, reins with Red Gore, girth with Scorched Brown. In this stage one has to have clear image of finished horse in mind. Warhorse of the famous, rich warlord will have quite differnt colors then horse of the ordinary nomade warrior, for example.

Step 3 one more time - but with a slight difference, as we wash only horse fur now. It is worth to remembering, that wash used in this step will directly and strongly influence final look of finished miniature. Most universal wash is - in my opinion - Agrax Earthshade again (or earlier, stronger version, Devlan Mud). But... it is worth to experiment a little, using other colors of washes too - especially black, sepia or muted, dark red. Some combinations of colors and washes look better then others, of course, but finding them is just a matter or painting practice... and watching photos of real horses. In this step it is really important to paint wash from below - remember, we are painting final shadows in this step. All fur should be washed, but most of it should go on the lower part of the miniature.

First highlight. After washed miniature is dry we can paint our first layer of highlight colors. In fact, it can hardly be even described as highlights - we will use the same basic color, which was used for painting horse fur, with a drop or two of wash added to it, to make transition of colors less dramatic. This color is painted on all surfaces visible from above, all muscles, head, neck, upper surfaces of the legs. Final effect should look more or less like on the photo attached. Some parts of the horse fur are already visibly lighter, but transitions from shadows (made with wash) to the highlights are soft.

Another highlights. We are still painting highlights using chosen color. Horse visible on the photo was painted with mix of Dark Flesh and Bestial Brown, with more and more Bestial Brown used. Remember - paint smaller and smaller areas of raised miniature surfaces with progressively lighter shades of the highlight color. It is useful to water down our paint and to paint few very thin layers (one could even describe it as a glazing of sort). Due to numerous coats transitions of color between different layers of our highlight will be soft.

Final highlights and details. It is time for final layer of highlights, painted with almost pure highlight color - Bestial Brown in my case. Again, paint is strongly dilluted, and used only in very thin lines, accentuating muscles of the horse. In the very last layer I can even mix some muted yellow, like Iyanded Darksun, to achieve even brighter final highlight of the muscles. Then it is time for reins (Red Gore, Blood Red and Troll Slayer Orange), girdle (Schorched Brown mixed with Tuskgor Fur) and saddle-cloth - Enchanted Blue mixed with Danem Stone. I tend to NOT use white in highlights as it looks too bright and unrealistic. Horse's hoofs are washed with dilluted Nuln Oil wash. Eyes are painted with the same wash. And then just small additional details, like ornaments on the saddle-cloth or on reins. Horse is ready.